State health officials in Michigan and Ohio are reporting thousands of cases of cyclosporiasis, a parasitic infection that causes watery diarrhea, loss of appetite, and weight loss.
The outbreak has reached more than 2,800 cases, according to a report by The Guardian.
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This surge comes a year after the Trump administration cut funding to state and local health departments and reduced a federal foodborne illness coordination program.
Impact of Funding Cuts
Barbara Kowalcyk, an associate professor at the George Washington University Milken Institute of Public Health, compared the situation to a puzzle.
“You start taking pieces out of your puzzle – it’s harder to see the whole picture, and that’s what we’ve done,” she said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported 843 confirmed cases and 1,500 suspected cases across 31 states.
While 86 people have been hospitalized, no fatalities have been reported. The CDC expects the federal case count to rise due to typical delays in disease investigation protocols.
Michigan appears especially hard-hit, with health officials reporting 2,640 cases. Over the border, Ohio officials report 177 cases.
The health departments did not identify a source of the outbreak.
The Michigan health department is urging restaurants and commercial kitchens in the southeast to thoroughly wash leafy greens, snow peas, some herbs, and raspberries, or ideally cook them.
Cyclospora has a two-week incubation period, and the CDC assumes a six-week reporting lag between illness onset and receiving a case report.
